


All Your Brilliant Blinding Light

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben Solo is a Mess, Bullying, Canon Compliant, Creepy Snoke (Star Wars), Eventual Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Manipulative Sheev Palpatine, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Protective Poe Dameron, Sleep, Sleeping Together, Star Wars: Bloodline-Compliant, Tai Ships It, Tai is a good bro, sleep cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23438014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Poe comforts Ben after Casterfo’s reveal.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Kudos: 7
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	All Your Brilliant Blinding Light

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Hurt/Comfort
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

  
He could feel them. The fear they felt, all because of him, and the thermal detonator that Ransolm Casterfo had thrown into Ben Solo’s life. His mother, Vader’s daughter — Ben wished he could say that Casterfo was lying, that it was a smear campaign to keep Leia Organa from being First Senator...  
  
And yet he knew.   
  
“It makes perfect sense now!” Voe said. “I always knew you were a freak.”  
  
“I’m not...” Ben could already feel the anger, the hurt, boiling inside him. He wasn’t, was he? He couldn’t be.   
  
"You are.” Voe stepped towards him, eyes blazing. “I knew from the moment dear old Mom dropped you off at the Academy that there was something wrong with you. You didn’t belong with us. You have no place in this story, Solo. You think otherwise? You’re mistaken.”  
  
“I didn’t choose this...”  
  
“You didn’t. You still have no place here, Solo.”  
  
 _Kill her,_ the voice in his head hissed. _Tear her to shreds. She will respect Ben Solo and all the power he wields..._  
  
Ben couldn’t. So he ran. Ran, ignoring Tai’s shout for him to come back.   
  
How could he come back?   
  
***  
  
It was just Voe. Ben knew that he shouldn’t let it get to him. It was easier said than done, wasn’t it, really? Shouldn’t. Like it was an absolute, an imperative...but Ben wasn’t strong enough to not let it get to him. Not strong enough. That was the key. Was there anyone, he thought, even as he ran, who didn’t think he was a monster? He supposed even Tai thought he was a monster. The monster with Vader’s taint under his skin. That was the key, wasn’t it? The taint...  
  
He could vaguely sense Tai, scolding Voe. Maybe that was one. One of them, who didn’t think he was a monster just for what he had in his DNA.   
  
There was an X-wing pulling up. Poe’s. How Poe had gotten there...  
  
Poe got out, BB-8 by his side, and all but ran to Ben, BB-8 wheeling next to him. He hugged Ben, and Ben felt, even with his heart racing at how close Poe was to him, safe.   
  
“I saw the broadcast,” Poe murmured. “Casterfo was wrong. I had a feeling you’d need me...so I came.”  
  
***  
  
“Voe was right.” Ben sat in the hut with Poe, BB-8 watching the two of them sip their caffa. “I am a freak. A mistake.”  
  
“Because you’re Vader’s grandson?”  
  
Ben nodded. There was no way around it, in the end.   
  
"Ben,” Poe said softly. “Forget what Voe said. She doesn’t know anything about you. She sees what she wants to. A symbol. Something to overcome.”  
  
“Yeah. Something.” Ben took a shaky breath. "I don’t want this, Poe. It’s too big.”  
  
“It doesn’t change anything about you,” Poe said. “I’m sure that Tai feels the same way, at least. And your uncle. Your mom. Your dad.” A beat. “At least believe it doesn’t change a thing in my eyes, if no one else’s.”  
  
Ben could believe that, at least. It still hurt. He doubted it ever wouldn’t hurt. But to know there was Poe as well as Tai...it was something.  
  
“You’ve always been there for me,” he says.   
  
“Of course. You’ve been there for me. Even at my worst. All my Light and all my Dark. And I can be there for you, with all your Light, all your Dark, and see the good in you all the same. Like you did with me.”  
  
“Of course.” Ben had loved this beautiful, talented, caring being ever since they were both younglings. He only wondered if he was worthy enough for Poe to love him in return. A meteor shower with all its brilliant light couldn’t love you back. Neither could the glow of a sunset, or the stars that burned brightly.  
  
“You want to stay a while, Ben?” Poe said. “I’ll look after you.”  
  
Ben nodded.   
  
They were supposed to be watching a crappy holo together. About a Jedi/Sith romance (like that would ever happen, Ben thought sarcastically). But here, Ben felt so safe that he found himself leaning against Poe, head on Poe’s shoulder...and he fell asleep against Poe’s shoulder.  
  
***  
  
Tai found them later, asleep on the couch with a melodramatic holofilm playing, BB-8 in low power mode. Tai knew he ought to wake them, tell Ben his uncle was looking for him, but he couldn’t bring himself to disrupt the moment, even though he probably should have.  
  
He wasn’t about to get in the way of Ben’s happiness. As Ben’s confidant at the Temple, Tai had heard Ben’s lamenting about how Poe would never love someone like Ben. _“A shooting star can’t love the being that wishes on it. That watches as it sheds its light on others.”_ Tai wondered if Ben really paid attention to Poe’s thoughts. How Poe would do anything for him.   
  
As a man himself, Tai could say that men could be right idiots when they wanted to be.  
  
“Just tell him, Ben,” he murmured. "Be happy. You deserve happiness more than you know.”  
  
He turned and walked away. It was enough to just observe the scene. He didn’t need to disrupt it.


End file.
